Mounting means for rotary mill or drier construction



M. TRESHOW 2,702,217

MOUNTING MEANS FOR ROTARY MILL OR DRIER CONSTRUCTION Feb. 15, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 29, 1950 w .R WE RH H os a Eo NRTR W 2 QM WW MHF mw, m m M K R M Feb. 15, 1955 TRE H W 2,702,217

MOUNTING MEANS FOR ROTARY MILL OR DRIER CONSTRUCTION Filed May 29, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. MIC/mm. Tess/40w BY HIS ATTORNEYS- Hn Eve/s, K/ECH, Fos TEI? & HARRIS Feb. .15, 1 955 M. TRESHOW 2,702,217

MOUNTING MEANS FOR ROTARY MILL OR DRIER CONSTRUCTION Filed May 29, 1950 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 FL 7 F "L 23 q; 250 54Q Z40.

25a ZIQ 1 l I j z/Q Z30. 23a am 220.

//v VENTO A. MICHAEL Tees/4o w B) H/S ATTORNEYS. HARRIS, K/ECH, P057151? & HARP/5 nited States Patent MOUNTING MEANS FOR ROTARY MILL OR; DRIER CONSTRUCTION Application 29,1950, SerialiNo. 165,044

1 Claim. (c1. ans-20,4 I

This invention relates to rotary structures mounted to Work about horizontal axes, and applies more particularly to means for mounting the shells of" such rotary devices so that they may rotate freely and at the same time be properly mounted. 1

An important object of the invention is to providemounting means for rotary shells of the horizontal mill: or drier type which shall be unusually durable and? elii cient, much less costly than similar means of prior struc tures, and readily producible and attainable.

Heretofore, in; rotary mill and kilnstructures, ap-- propriate annular rails on the shells and supportingrollers therefor have been inordinately expensive to produce, and at the same time have had too short alit-e and as a consequence weretoo: costly to maintain.

It is therefore another object of this invention to avoid the conventional expensive machining operations employed in producing supporting means of the indicated type and to provide a rail and supporting arrangement for rotary structures working upon horizontal axes, such as mills and driers, which may be readil-y producedi from comparatively inexpensive, conveniently available. materials extensively found uponthe market for other purposes. More particularly, it is an object-of the invention to employ ordinary railroadrails and railroad car wheels to provide the mounting means for the conventional mill and drier type of structures, itbeing necessary only: to shape the rails tothe exterior of the shell of the structure being mounted and flatten the crown of the rail head to provide maximum supporting contact between such rail head and the treads of the supporting car wheels.

Another objectof the invention is to provide. novel means for supplying to horizontal mills and driers the various feed materials. tqbe--treated,yand a still further object of the invention is to provide novel screening and discharging means on the discharge heads of'ball: mills and the like wherein ground materialis properly discharged from mills working about horizontal axes.

Other objects of the invention, and the various features of construction thereof, will become apparent to those skilled in this art upon reference to the following specification and accompanying drawings wherein certain embodiments are illustrated.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a side elevation of a ball mill embodying the various features of this invention, portions being broken away to illustrate internal construction;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary cross section on an enlarged scale as indicated by the line 22 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 3 is an internal vertical cross section taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary cross section on an enlarged scale, similar to that of Fig. 2, and taken on the line 44 of Figs. 3 and 5;

Fig. 5 is an elevational detail on an enlarged scale of one of the joints between the rail sections seen in Fig. 3, as indicated by the line 5-5 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a side elevation showing an elongated drying mill embodying the features of this invention, portions of the length of the mill being broken out; and

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary sectional view showing the mounting arrangement at one end of the structure of Fig. 6, this view corresponding in general with that of Fig. 2 of the other form of construction.

As seen in Fig. l, the mill disclosed represents a relatively short ball mill of relatively great diameter and comprising a cylindrical shell 10, a head 12 at the feed "ice end of the mill and a head 14 at the discharge end of the mill. There is also shown a ring gear 15 around: the shell 10. which is adapted to be engaged by a pinion gear 16' mounted on a shaft 17 journalled in bearings 18 having appropriate mountings 19, whereby the shell 10 may be rotated on its horizontal axis.

For the purpose of mounting the shell 10 and providing for ready rotation thereof, circular rails generally indicated at 20 are secured around the shell ll)v which is thereby mounted on appropriate bases. 21 through the. medium of wheels 22 carried on axles 23 mounted in bearings 24 through the medium of appropriate thrust bearings such as indicated at 25.

Each of'the indicated wheels 22 is atypical or standard railroad car wheel, and each of the rails 20 is produced from typical or standard railroad rails which, as distinguished from being produced by expensive machining, are produced by the well known, relatively inexpensive, rolling procedure. Each of these rails comprises a normally vertical, longitudinally extending, intermediate web- 26 which merges with a slight flare into a relatively wide base 27. Opposite the base 27, the web 26 isintegral with and merges into the usual circumferentially extending head 28.

For the present purpose this conventional railroad rail structure provides a highly serviceable, relatively inexpensive, high l'oad-carrying mounting means. Toadapt the above-described railroad rail structure to the present use, it is necessary merely to cut ofr" appropriate; lengths.

.such as the three illustrated in Fig. 3, to total the required circumferential distance about the shell 10, and shape them upon required arcs under such heating conditions as necessary. The faces 28" of the rail heads are ground or otherwise machined to; remove any crown that may exist and provide a contacting face. which is. transversely flat, such as indicated in Fig. 2. To insure. against: any possible slippage, when the rails are placed: upon the shell 10, the latter is provided with an annular groove 29 of awidth to receivethe base 27 of the respective railand provide; shoulders which will prevent substantial movement axially of the shell 10, this relationship being indicated in Figs. 2 and 4.

The shaped arcuate; rail lengths are then, bound in place about the shell 10 by means of arcuate connecting bars or splice, plates: 30 secured. on opposite sides. of the webs: 2.6 of the rail lengths by means. of bolts 32 as illus trated in Figs. 3, 4, and 5 passed through appropriately spaced holes 33 in both the plates 39, and the end portions of the: rail lengths, whereby to provide any such joint; spacing: as indicated at: 34 in Fig. 5 which may be necessary for contraction or-expansion or otherwise.

The railroad car wheels 22 which support the shell 10, its associated parts, and contents are likewise of conventional railroad design comprising the usual circumferential cylindrical tread portion 35, central web or hubcarrying portion 36, and an annular, circumferentially extending flange 38. Should the tread portion 35 carry any bevel or crown, such is ground or otherwise machined to provide a transversely flat surface for engaging with the correspondingly transversely flat face 28a of the rail head 28, so that every line of contact between the cylindrical tread 35 of each wheel 22 and the corresponding rail head 28 will be of maximum extent. This arrangement insures adequate frictional contact between the wheels 22 and the rail heads 28 whereby to insure steady and positive .drive of the mill when power is applied to the pinion gear 16 and the ring gear 15.

The above described rail structure is easy to produce, easy to install, easy to replace if necessary, and relatively inexpensive both from the standpoints of original installation and replacement. However, such a mounting structure has such an extremely long life that, in the history of any given mill, it may never require replacement.

Where a mill, such as the ball or rod mill illustrated in Fig. l, is mounted upon a perfectly horizontal axis, the flanges of the wheels 22 are oppositely arranged, as seen in Figs. 1 and 2, so that certain of the flanges 38 engage the rail heads 28 at one side and certain other flanges 38 engage rail heads 28 at opposite sides. Thus, the mill is prevented from shifting axially in either direction.

If the mill, however, is positioned upon an inclined axis, such as that indicated in Figs. 6 and 7 for the drier or kiln 10a, then the flanges'38a for the wheels 22a may all be placed to engage the down side of the rail heads 28a. In these Figs. 6 and 7, the structures of the corresponding indicated parts are substantially the same as those of the other form, and the respective parts are in dicated by the same numerals accompanied by the reference character a.

As the term mill is used herein, it is intended to designate any rotary, shell-type structure working about a substantially horizontal axis, whether it'be of the ball mill or rod mill type or of the drier or kiln type, or otherwise, inasmuch as the described structures are highly useful on all such devices.

' In addition to the mounting structureabove described, there is also disclosed a desirable cooperating feeding arrangement for the starting materials being treated, as well as a desirable cooperating discharge arrangement where the fineness of discharged materials is to be controlled, as in the case of a rod or ball mill.

As illustrated in Fig. 1, the head 12 at the receiving end of the mill is provided with a centrally located feedreceiving opening 40 into which there is adapted to be projected the lower end of a portable discharge chute 41 which may be fed from any source 42.

The chute 41 is illustrated as being carried upon a framework 43 having wheels 44 travelling upon tracks 45 disposed in an elevated position upon supporting standards 46. With this arrangement, the chute 41 and its framework 43 may be easily withdrawn from the feed opening 40 when desired to gain access to the interior of the mill.

The discharge head 14 of the mill shown in Figs. 1 and 3 is provided with a circular series of discharge openings 50 disposed at an appropriate intermediate distance between the axis and the periphery of the mill. These openings 50 are provided with gratings 52, immediately outside of which screens 54 of appropriate mesh are disposed. Thus, the gratings 52 hold back, for example, balls and large pieces of clinker, and screens 54 prevent the passage of larger materials than any given mesh desired. Around each opening 50 there is located any appropriate flaring discharge lip 55. Appropriately positioned below the openings 50 and their discharge lips 55 is a hopper 56 to receive the discharged materials, the bottom of this hopper 56 communicating with a discharge chute 58 leading to any place of storage or other disposition. This form of discharge for ground materials acts to unload a product of appropriate fineness as quickly as it reaches the end of the mill, thereby to reduce as rapidly as possible the load carried by the mill. This annular type of discharge means is readily adaptable to mill use when the rail and wheel type of mounting means of the present improvement is employed, as distinguished from trunnion bearings disposed as the mill axis which would obstruct the end of the mill and make annular discharge impossible.

Inasmuch as other-variations of the generic invention disclosed will become apparent to those skilled in this art, it is intended to cover all such modifications as fall within the scope of the patent claims.

I claim as my invention:

In combination in a mill: a cylindrical shell mounted for rotation about a horizontal axis; driven means carried by said shell for actuation to rotate said shell about said axis; supporting means for said shell comprising a plurality of pairs of annular rails circumferentially surrounding and fixed to said shell, one pair of rails being spaced from the other pair longitudinally of said shell; each annular rail consisting of a plurality of arcuate sections of railroad rails of substantially conventional railroad rail construction rigidly and removably secured in end-to-end relation and bindingly secured around said shell; and a plurality of conventional railroad car wheels, two disposed under each of said annular rails in supporting contact therewith, the flanges of said wheels being in engagement with the respective sides of said annular rails to control lateral movement of said annular rails and consequent longitudinal movement of said shell along its axis; said shell being peripherally cut externally to provide annular grooves therein, such grooves receiving the base portions of said annular rails and being of substantially the width of said base portions to prevent shitting of said annular rails axially along said shell.

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Great Britain Oct. 23, 1930 

